Red Planet Reclaimers by Tudvari

[raw]
made by Tudvari for Ludum Dare 56 (COMPO)

(Please play it in fullscreen, thanks! :) )

header-small.jpg

## About

"The RPRs' job on this cold rock is to cleanse the tunnels beneath, so we may once again have colony of some sort..."

  • Survive as long as you can! The Martian subsurface is a dangerous place...

  • Destroy the environment, harvest resources!

  • Upgrade your gear, collect better resources in other biomes, survive longer!

  • * * How long can you survive? * * (my best is 6:38 so far! :) )

    Controls

  • WASD or arrows to move

  • Left click to shoot (you can just hold it down, trust me)

  • Right click to shoot grenade

  • Shift to sprint

  • R/F/T/G or Click to buy upgrades

  • Walk into ores to collect them

  • H to enable hardcore mode. (post-jam update)

  • Escape to quit the game

Features that didn't make it?

  • Buy special equipment to be able to walk in the final biome and fight the big creature! (yep, originally I didn't intend this game as a timer beating game)

  • Creatures dropping items which are currency for i.e. health potions and other upgrades.

  • A third weapon, called "Adamantium Laser" (but with enough firerate upgrade you can achieve a laserlike weapon) and a third enemy called "Charger". (guess what it does ^^)

  • A better dialog panel, a settings panel.

Changes since submission

  • Fixes, minor adjustments, a bit brighter here and there, ndestructible game area enclosing walls

  • Hotkeys for upgrades

  • HARDCORE MODE!

scr1.jpg

scr2.jpg

scr3.jpg

scr5.jpg

scr7.jpg

Ratings

Overall 81th 3.793⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Fun 40th 3.966⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 264th 2.828⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Theme 240th 3.207⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 121th 3.707⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Audio 56th 3.793⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Humor 221th 2.604⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Mood 63th 3.87⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Given 27🗳️ 35🗨️

Feedback

unloosed
07. Oct 2024 · 03:37 UTC
This is a nice game! It feels pretty complete, and mechanically it controls nicely. I like the upgrades, too!

I think the only bug (haha) I encountered was the timer kept going after I died.
🎤 Tudvari
07. Oct 2024 · 06:27 UTC
@unloosed Thanks for playing, glad to hear that you liked it. :) I knew I forgot something... :D Even though I have a todo list, in the final hours it felt too slow to add items to it ^^ I guess this is what happens when you are lazy. I'll quickly fix it before I upload a web build, thanks!
dooskington
07. Oct 2024 · 07:16 UTC
I thought this game felt really nice to play. Shooting stuff just felt good.
I found it just a bit too dark though, that combined with everything being very tiny made it hard to know where to go. Good job though!
🎤 Tudvari
07. Oct 2024 · 09:04 UTC
@dooskington Yeah, I was afraid that making it too dark would cause some issues, and I felt it too. :\ I just couldn't come up with a solution to make it easier to read while still... dark? :smile: Thanks for the feedback!
LDJam user 236545
07. Oct 2024 · 19:12 UTC
The gameplay feels solid; the art design and audio work really well together to convey the mood. Design-wise, I thought it was nice that your one "gameplay verb" (shooting things) was a constant trade-off between fighting off attackers, and mining for resources. You couldn't just focus on one, because you needed to do both. Each subsequent attempt I made was more satisfying because I understood how to strike the right balance.

I'll echo the sentiment about it being too dark. The darkness combined with the low contrast between the creatures and the ground made it pretty difficult to see what was attacking me at times. I mitigated this challenge somewhat by upgrading the firing speed, and spraying bullets into the darkness until I saw a health bar.

On my 3rd attempt, I realized I could just start drilling down through the walls to get to the purple material faster. I cornered myself and ended up dying, but it was a fun attempt nevertheless.

![Screenshot 2024-10-07 120049.png](///raw/10c/93/z/667c8.png)

Good work!
wisstopher
08. Oct 2024 · 11:46 UTC
This is a great entry. I managed to get to 5:36, I was holding out for so long an then all my health started vanishing. I need to try again and get a better score :D . Well done with this!
BOHNE
08. Oct 2024 · 11:47 UTC
rat this
yanranranyan
08. Oct 2024 · 11:55 UTC
Fun game!! Although i wasnt quite sure what i was doing so i ended up digging down deep and died in a tunnel (rip me) I really like the animated effect - like the feedback when you elimiated something!! Feels concrete and smooth.
RilleP
08. Oct 2024 · 12:11 UTC
Great game! Graphics was very good, the lighting, the illumination of the bullets, the juicyness of shooting the walls, all great! I did have a bit of a problem with seeing enemies and enemy projectiles.

Killing bugs and mining ore was fun.
![score2024-10-08 141021.png](///raw/370/6/z/67e01.png)
game dynasty
08. Oct 2024 · 12:17 UTC
![2.PNG](///raw/8c7/42/z/67e0d.png)
I BROKE THE GAME AND I'M PROUD OF IT! Because it was so much fun. I literally destroyed everything in my path. And so far I have the main record :)

By the end of the game, my character was already somewhere on the left-bottom, the camera flew away somewhere, until it completely stopped rendering the world. But it's really fun, but it's VERY VERY VERY hard to see the mobs. I think they should also have a backlight and they should be bigger. Or at least a different color.
🎤 Tudvari
08. Oct 2024 · 12:25 UTC
@andrewkennedy Thanks for playing! Yep, I don't know what I thought when I made it that dark... ^^ Anyway I adjusted the lighting a bit after you comment, so I think it's much more balanced now. Thanks for the kind words. And yeah, maybe I should have made the gameplay area enclosing walls indestructible. :D Hmm, maybe I will, doesn't sound that big of a work ^^

@wisstopher thanks for playing, glad you liked it! :)

@yanranranyan Thanks for playing! :)

@rillep Woaah, how did you manage this far? Awesome, congrats! :) Yeah, maybe I'll make the creatures just a bit more visible, thanks for the feedback!

@game-dynasty Woaah, even higher highscore! Congrats! Glad you liked the game, and thanks for the feedback. :) Now after these comments, I really should put an indestructible wall around the game, and increase the mob visibility a bit, haha ^^
James-Tanm
08. Oct 2024 · 21:49 UTC
7:02 time

Very fun game, especially when you get a few speed upgrades in

What I liked:
- solid music track. Often times music is one of the last things to get added in these jams but honestly I couldnt imagine playing without it. Very Doom coded
- great gameplay loop. The key for me was learning this is a mining game, not a shooting game. of course, once you hit 6 minutes that definitely changes a bit, haha
- I like encouraging the player to move around by changing up the resources. Definitely changed it to be more exploration based than a static shooter
- The gun felt really nice to use, especially after a few upgrades (in case you are sensing a theme here...)

What I think could be improved:
- I think the character starts out feeling a bit weak. It provides a great juxtaposition for how bad ass you feel near the end, but i worry players wont want to push through feeling so sluggish. if nothing else I would love a bit more base movement speed
- I did have a bit of an issue finding the other biomes. I ended up walking north and mining to the edge of the map not realizing there was a specific direction I should go.
- I wish the enemies were a bit bigger. This is hard to balance, as that means they have a bigger hitbox, but as is I kinda just felt like they were red squiggles. it wasnt until I stopped and really looked at them that I saw how varied their designs were
- I know adding in new enemies is where scope creep begins, but it did feel a little underwhelming that the only real difference in the biomes seemed to be the color and hardness of the rocks
SdCorpse
09. Oct 2024 · 20:52 UTC
I love artstyle! especially when you hit and destroy the terrain. It felt like im 10 and playing contra) And the music is nice too!
BangKerpow
10. Oct 2024 · 01:57 UTC
You really nailed that specific type of gameplay that's really fun to zone out to. Everything was great here but I think the music really shined.

![Screenshot 2024-10-09 215554.png](///raw/967/d2/z/68651.png)
manabreak
10. Oct 2024 · 07:12 UTC
Awesome work! The start was a bit slow, but after gaining access to the blue upgrades, it really brought the big guns. :) Survived for almost ten minutes, have to try this again!
Pierre-Marie
10. Oct 2024 · 16:31 UTC
Very good game, very well finished!

I have a few problems with the enemies and projectiles, which I find too small for me, but everything else is really well done.

With a little more content, events on the map, skills to choose from other than the grenade, the ability to modify the stamina and little elements like that, the game becomes really excellent!

Excellent work, congratulations!

(And here it's my best)
![best2.png](///raw/16b/c4/z/6877c.png)
Skleembof
10. Oct 2024 · 16:35 UTC
That was very polished and fun for a compo game! That was seriously an impressive amount of content for 48 hours.
I could definitely see myself having fun with this as a much larger more complete experience if you decided to develop it further.

My only issue was that I had a hard time seeing enemies and differentiating them from blood splatters and ores and stuff.
ItsAina
10. Oct 2024 · 16:36 UTC
Good stuff! Very fun and satisfying to become overpowered as hell. It starts a bit slow, but once you get the yellow upgrades it immediatelly starts feeling a lot smoother.

![Screenshot (3).png](///raw/daa/63/z/68775.png)

A few points to look into:
- I personally think the enemies are too hard to see. A lot of times I lose health and have no idea from where.
- I actually played it twice because my first time was spent mostly trying to find out where the blue ores were. I was unfortunate enough to look everywhere but the one corner that has it. Second run was way smoother and a lot more fun once I knew where it was, but it felt like the first run is a dice roll based on the direction you decide to explore first.
- Also, there's this bug with the camera it seems? Over time, the camera becomes offset and the player gets closer and closer to the corner of the screen.

![Screenshot (2).png](///raw/daa/63/z/68776.png)
GaryS
10. Oct 2024 · 18:53 UTC
Very cool. I love a twin stick shooter - in fact, I'm working on one right now. This was great for such a quickly made game. The only note I have is that there really wasn't much point not holding the mouse down at any point - so it may as well have been automatic.
commanderstitch
11. Oct 2024 · 01:30 UTC
This stuff is fun. Love it. Nice move n shoot. The enemies fit the theme so well it was annoying because they were such tiny creatures!
AStrayRae
11. Oct 2024 · 04:59 UTC
Really fun game! Dig, upgrade, kill, repeat.

![Screenshot 2024-10-11 065629.png](///raw/917/94/z/688ef.png)
🎤 Tudvari
11. Oct 2024 · 07:15 UTC
@james-tanm Thanks for the awesome, detailed feedback, you really hit the nail on the head! Glad you liked all those stuff, thanks! Your critique is on point, these were also mentioned by other people so you are not alone for sure. ^^ Yep, it's a bit sluggish in the beginning, especially if you've already played once and reached higher upgrades. But I really like the fact that you start with slower, realistic paces, it makes the endgame feel more powerful. So I don't know how could I fix this issue while keeping this good feeling. Any ideas? Yep, being lost at first, not finding the other ores was also an issue for some people. I guess not for everyone because some people managed to find all of them quickly just by pure luck. Which is not a really good game design. I could have a minimap, but that's not really immersive, you don't feel like you're in the "unknown". I wonder how could this be done the immersive way. Maybe with a delay after after reaching the first i.e. red requirement with one of the upgrade, your mate could tell you on the walkie-talkie or something. Regarding the enemies being too small... yeah, I should have implemented my original plan that they become bigger and stronger. So they are only small at the beginning. But I didn't have time and thought that having more weak enemies achieve a similar difficulty, and it takes less time. :D And good idea on the varying monster types, there could have been more. Thanks for playing and I really appreciate your detailed feedback, cheers! :)

@sdcorpse Thanks, glad you liked it, I usually don't like my own stuff, but I kept finding myself playing over again because I just liked hitting the tilemaps so much. ^^ Thanks for playing, cheers!


@bangkerpow Thanks Kerpow, appreciate it! I was surprised too with the music. Back in the day I played some heavy metal stuff here and there on a guitar at home, but I never made music like this on the computer. And it all sounded so bad... And the worst part was that I didn't know how to make drum sounds... It sounded awful. Then I found out how can I add drum patterns, and suddenly all the other instruments sounded good too. So I learned that drums are essential to must music. ^^

@manabreak Congrats, glad you enjoyed it, good luck & have fun! :)

@pierre-marie Congrats on the time, and thanks for the feedback, I'll keep in mind if I continue working on it, though I shouldn't because I'm already deep in another project. ^^ Thanks for playing!

@skleembof Thanks for the kind words! :) I'm really thinking about working on it, because I had so much with destroying tiles. I didn't even know that it's this easy to have a performant, juicy, destructible tilemap in Unity with VFX and such. It's not really possible out of the box, so I always just skipped the thought, thinking "it must be too hard". Turns out it's not really complicated. :) Thanks for the feedback, I wonder how could I improve the visibility.

@itsaina Woah, that's a lot of minutes, congrats! :) Yeah, they are a bit hard to see, sorry! Though "taking damage and have no idea from where" sounds like the poison damage over time. Was it green damage? If so, it was a DoT from the spiders. If not, then I guess worms are really hard to see :\ The map is a square with symmetric layout: in the top-left and bottom right corners are the red ores, and blue ores in the others. Hmm, I would how could I have make this straightforward. Honestly, I was hoping that while the player was running around the monsters, they would eventually discover all the ores naturally. ^^ I was a bit naive I guess, haha. Hmm, that's a strange bug. Hmm, but I think I now the source, if there are lot of explosions around you, the new camera shakes start while there is an existing one, thus the new camera shake thinks that the original position if the already shaked one. And slow offsets add up I guess. Sorry and thanks for playing! :)
🎤 Tudvari
11. Oct 2024 · 07:15 UTC
@garys Thanks for playing, glad you liked it! Yep, I was really divided on that. Because I liked holding it down, it was immersive, but it had no point. In the hardcore mode I planned to just make the player automatically shoot, but it felt bad, soulless. Now that I'm writing these lines, I've just realized that I should have implemented something like an overheat system. This way you shouldn't fire all the time. But on later stages I guess this would be a bit annoying, it would make the game really hard. Maybe with firerate upgrade, the weapon would heat less too. Hmm. Anyway, thanks for playing once again! :)

@commanderstitch Haha, maybe they were a bit too tiny. The original plan was to make them bigger and bigger as time goes on, but I had some more important tasks at my hand and I was afraid that making them bigger on the run would cause a lot of issues. :D Thanks for playing, commander!

@astrayrae Thanks for playing! Congrats on the time, awesome! :)
henk
11. Oct 2024 · 22:04 UTC
I survived for 8:35. Super fun, although it was stressful needing to glance back
down at the upgrades menu to check the prices and pick hotkeys. The whole game
felt like a tribute to Doom, and I think it does a good job of that.

Some here have said that the early game feels too slow, but I don't really agree. Both in terms of literal movement speed and overall pacing I think the early portion of the game feels about right.
TheSmellofOxygen
11. Oct 2024 · 23:31 UTC
There's so much polish crammed into this in so little time! We have lighting, tilemaps, multiple enemies, upgrades, multiple attacks, full audio... I'm very impressed. I had fun playing.

I wish there were some goals, whether they were random "high value" ore locations or "tiny creature nests" or something to fight toward. Tried normal and hardcore. Did very well in my first life on normal, and hardcore kicked my butt fairly quickly.
🎤 Tudvari
12. Oct 2024 · 12:49 UTC
@henk Congrats! Thanks for feedback and glad you enjoyed it! :)

@thesmellofoxygen Yeah, I wish too. Originally it was planned to be a survival-exploration game, with a goal of defeating a boss somewhere. But run out of time, so made it a timer based endless survive game. :| Thanks for
your kind words and of course for playing! :)
Jiri Hysek
12. Oct 2024 · 21:36 UTC
![Snímek obrazovky 2024-10-12 v 23.33.59.png](///raw/221/c/z/68b89.png)

Not bad considering I play on a touchpad :)

I like destructive terrain/mining for collecting resources for upgrades! The good thing is that enemies' bullets destroy terrain too but it's a shame that grenades don't :(

Also, the music is cool and really fits the game. All and all, it was fun!
🎤 Tudvari
13. Oct 2024 · 13:17 UTC
@jiri-hysek Thanks for playing Jiri! :) Glad you enjoyed it, and congrats on that score, with touch pad it must been horrible ^^ What do you mean that it's a shame that greandes don't? You mean grenades should damage more? Or at least to the terrain? Or you experienced some kind of a bug? Thanks for the feedback! :)
Jiri Hysek
13. Oct 2024 · 14:46 UTC
@tudvari I wasn't sure if a grenade did anything to the terrain or not. So I was assuming it does nothing to it. Maybe it does but I expected a big hole (at least to the most basic terrain when my damage is boosted enough). So I guess it was not a bug, I just overlooked it did anything to the wall with that mess all around... :) I just wanted more damage from it because more damage equals more fun :D
🎤 Tudvari
13. Oct 2024 · 19:56 UTC
@jiri-hysek Hmm, maybe for some reason there were no damage texts nears the explosion VFX upon a grenade's impact? :O
Shoalmuse
16. Oct 2024 · 08:48 UTC
Nicely made twin stick/mouse shooter. I really enjoyed destroying the level once I realized that was possible. I felt like maybe the beginning was a bit too easy (I had to hunt for enemies at times) and the movement felt a little stiff (could use some acceleration/momentum - particularly when sprinting).
🎤 Tudvari
16. Oct 2024 · 09:05 UTC
@shoalmuse Woah, what are the chances that as I'm playing your game, you are playing mine? ^^ Thanks for the feedback, noted! :) Though if you have to survive, why would you hunt for enemies, when you could spend that time to gather resources without having to care about enemies? But maybe that's just me, and there should be a bigger focus on killing enemies, and not just for self defense. Originally they were planned to drop items too. Anyway, thanks again, cheers! :)
MaximeG
19. Oct 2024 · 10:22 UTC
wow that was impressive, looks like a real game, reminds me of Deep Rock Galactic Survivor, good job!
🎤 Tudvari
20. Oct 2024 · 18:45 UTC
@maximeg Thanks, glad to hear that! :) The brainstorm doc is named "LD56 - Deep Rock-like, Warcraft III: Survival-like" ^^
🎤 Tudvari
20. Oct 2024 · 18:45 UTC
delete me please
🎤 Tudvari
20. Oct 2024 · 18:45 UTC
delete me please
🎤 Tudvari
20. Oct 2024 · 18:46 UTC
Hmm, why did it send it thrice? And I can't delete them for some reason :\ Okay, I'll just edit them.
Frib
22. Oct 2024 · 00:30 UTC
That was really enjoyable! I think there may be a way to cheese it by digging your own long tunnel with a small spiral at the end, as enemies seem to not chase you then when spawning, but I didn't try to go for a record that way as I enjoyed blasting my way through enemies more than just camping :D so I could be wrong once you reach the 7+ minute mark

Good stuff!
🎤 Tudvari
22. Oct 2024 · 13:50 UTC
@frib Hi, thanks for playing! I'll definitely try your strategy, haha! ^^
Korteh
24. Oct 2024 · 19:24 UTC
very impressive compo work. Great gameplay loop, a bit more polish and this can become a very addictive arcade
🎤 Tudvari
28. Oct 2024 · 06:28 UTC
@korteh thank you for your kind words! :)